Exercising regularly is one of the best things you can do for your health. But you don’t have to spend hours at the gym to reap one of the biggest potential benefits.
Adding just 20 minutes of physical activity to your day can significantly reduce your risk of being hospitalized for a variety of serious medical conditions, according to new research.
Research published today JAMA network open, analyzed data from over 81,000 people aged 42 to 78 from the ongoing UK Biobank study. All participants wore activity trackers for his 7 days. Researchers then used statistical models to classify the types of activities participants engaged in and the time spent in each activity.
Their results showed that people who did more physical activity overall had a lower risk of hospitalization for nine conditions, including diabetes, gallbladder disease, blood clots, and urinary tract infections.
They also found that hospitalizations could be significantly reduced when researchers used modeling techniques to replace sedentary behavior with 20 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. This was especially true for hospitalizations related to diabetes, gallbladder disease, pneumonia, gastroesophageal reflux disease, and iron deficiency anemia.
Overall, the results suggest that “Aiming to increase moderate-to-vigorous physical activity by just 20 minutes per day is a highly effective strategy for reducing the risk of hospitalization in an incredibly wide range of conditions. ‘ suggests. ., tell TODAY.com.
Why is exercise beneficial in managing so many different health conditions? It seems that they are,” said Watts, a postdoctoral fellow in the Division of Metabolic Epidemiology at the National Cancer Institute.
it is important to note moderate to vigorous physical activity This study did not necessarily mean high-impact exercise. It included everything from dog walking to jogging to biking to swimming. The study’s authors say future research should focus on elucidating the effects of different types of exercise, such as high-intensity cardio and strength training.
The study has some limitations. For example, 97% of his participants were identified as Caucasian. That is, it is difficult to know how well the results apply to other groups. However, other studies have shown that “under the guidance of a physician, physical activity appears to be very broadly beneficial” across races, ethnicities and ages.
What’s more, the accelerometers used to track activities in this study “are not very good at picking up things like weightlifting,” says Watts. You may be missing activity measurements from
Also, remember that this study only looked at the correlation with hospitalization, not whether physical activity could completely prevent the development of the health condition.
“It may just represent better disease control,” says Watts. “That was not the scope of this study.”
And because the study only examined correlations between activity and hospitalization, it’s impossible to determine whether exercise had a direct effect on participants’ outcomes, explains Watts.
In general, however, the findings are consistent with findings from previous studies showing the benefits of regular physical activity, emphasizing that physical activity does not have to be very strenuous. increase.
Previous studies have found that adding just a few minutes of vigorous exercise to your daily routine can have a significant impact on your risk of early death. Another study published last month found that people who walked for five minutes every half hour had lower blood pressure and blood sugar levels than those who sat.
“Just living a normal life and doing something that makes you less ‘inconvenient’, like taking the stairs instead of waiting for the elevator, is helpful,” says Brigham, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and Boston. An epidemiologist and physical activity researcher at the And Women’s Hospital previously told TODAY.com.
The new study didn’t specifically look at the effects of breaking up 20 minutes of activity versus working out consistently, Watts explains, but that could be another area to explore in the future. there is.
